Clemens ‘Dared to Deny’ Using Banned Drugs, Defense Says

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Roger Clemens “dared to deny”
that he ever took steroids or other banned drugs, his lawyer
said in opening statements in federal court in Washington, where
the ex-New York Yankees pitcher is on trial a second time on
charges of lying to Congress about steroid use.

“It is always going to be about the fact that from day one
Roger Clemens dared to say that ‘I didn’t do it,’ and that’s
what he’s being prosecuted for,” Clemens’s lawyer Rusty Hardin
told the jury today.

The four men and eight women on the jury will decide after
four to six weeks of evidence whether the seven-time Cy Young
Award winner lied to Congress when he said he never used
performance-enhancing drugs.

Clemens, 49, is charged with one count of obstructing a
congressional investigation, three counts of making false
statements and two counts of perjury. If convicted on all
charges, he faces as long as 30 years in prison and a
$1.5 million fine.

A previous trial ended when U.S. District Judge Reggie
Walton declared a mistrial in July. He found that prosecutors
improperly showed the jury a video clip of a 2008 congressional
hearing in which the wife of a government witness, Andy
Pettitte, was discussed. Walton had ruled earlier that the
government could make no references to Laura Pettitte or an
affidavit she gave Congress.

Prosecution’s Opening

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Durham said yesterday that
Clemens lied to make himself look good and others look bad.

Clemens, who pitched for the Yankees, Boston Red Sox,
Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays during a 24-year career,
used the anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, or HGH, to
remain competitive as he aged, Durham said.

The drugs were injected into him by Brian McNamee, his
former personal trainer, who worked with the pitcher for
10 years, Durham said. The evidence includes a needle and cotton
balls containing Clemens’s DNA that tested positive for anabolic
steroids, he said.

Hardin, during an hour-long presentation today, showed the
jury photos of Clemens at various stages of his career and said
there are no physical signs or medical evidence that his client
ever used the drugs.

Lack of Evidence

“There are no outward characteristics of someone using
steroids,” Hardin said. “There is no evidence of steroid use
besides Brian McNamee saying he did it.”

Throughout his opening statement, Hardin accused the
government of telling only “half the story” when it came to
evidence of Clemens’s alleged lies.

The government accused Clemens of creating a cover story
for his steroid use when he told Congress that McNamee injected
him with vitamin B12 and the anesthetic Lidocaine -- legal
substances. Durham told the jury yesterday that there was no
reason for a personal trainer to give such injections when the
teams have doctors or other specialists to do that.

Hardin said former baseball players will testify that they
have received injections of vitamins and other acceptable drugs
from their trainers.

“There are ballplayers who will say ‘we got B12 from the
Red Sox’ or ‘we got B12 from the Yankees,’” he said. “Can
trainers legally do it? Maybe not, but they did.”

‘Hodgepodge’ in Picture

He displayed a photo of needles, cotton balls and gauze on
a table next to a Miller Lite beer can that was made public by
McNamee’s lawyer after Clemens and McNamee testified in
Congress. The material was supposedly used on Clemens by McNamee
and was the source of the government’s physical evidence, Hardin
said.

Hardin called it “the most mixed-up hodgepodge of garbage
you could imagine.” McNamee supposedly kept the material in the
beer can for seven years and never told federal investigators
about it until shortly before he testified before Congress in
2008, Hardin said.

Hardin said McNamee manipulated the evidence and an expert
will testify it’s easy to add somebody’s DNA to a needle that’s
never been used in an injection.

“It’s simple, and we contend that’s what happened,” he
said.

Hardin said McNamee sought to profit from his fame as
Clemens’s accuser. He showed jurors the cover of an unpublished
manuscript by McNamee titled “Death, Taxes and Mac” and called
attention to a $10 million lawsuit McNamee filed against Clemens
in New York. He put up a picture of McNamee during an appearance
on the Howard Stern show.

Pettitte Testimony

Pettitte will testify about his close relationship with
Clemens and how Clemens told him in 1999 or 2000 that he had
used HGH, Durham said. Clemens told Congress that Pettitte
misheard or “misremembers” the conversation.

Hardin said the defense won’t challenge Pettitte, who he
said remains a close friend of Clemens even though the two
haven’t been able to speak due to the criminal case. He said
Pettitte’s testimony will be some of the most convincing as to
why Clemens didn’t take steroids or HGH.

Clemens has denied drug use since former U.S. Senator
George Mitchell released a report on steroids in Major League
Baseball on Dec. 13, 2007. Mitchell named Clemens in the report
as having used drugs on 16 occasions from 1998 to 2001.

The charges stem from statements Clemens made to the House
Oversight Committee in February 2008 in an interview with
committee staff and later in a public hearing on ballplayers’
use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Denied Using Steroids

Under oath, Clemens denied ever using steroids or HGH,
according to the indictment.

“If Roger Clemens truly took steroids and HGH from Brian
McNamee, where’s the evidence he did it after 2001 where you’d
think he had bigger need of it to prolong his career,” Hardin
said.

Hardin put up a map of North America -- the graphic he used
during the first trial -- that he said displayed the resources
expended by the government to prove Clemens used steroids and
human growth hormone after 2001. The effort involved
268 interview reports, 79 locations, 103 federal law enforcement
officers and more than eight federal prosecutors, Hardin said.

“Despite this effort, they did not turn up one single
thing,” Hardin said.

The government’s first witness was Phil Barnett, the
committee’s chief of staff during the baseball probe who deposed
Clemens. It was during Barnett’s testimony last year that the
mistrial occurred.

The trial ended early today and won’t resume until April 30
due to the judge’s teaching schedule.

The case is U.S. v. Clemens, 10-cr-00223, U.S. District
Court, District of Columbia (Washington).